Recovery Isn't Easy
by tvdspnlover
Summary: Steve and Bucky befriended Kelsey when they were kids and became inseparable. One day, Kelsey was kidnapped by Hydra where she discovered she wasn't quite human. They tried to train her to become a weapon, but before their plan could work, her base was destroyed and she was lost. Now she's in the 21st Century and finds out both her friends are still alive. Bucky/OC
1. The Beginning

Bucky was walking through the playground when he heard the commotion. There was a crowd gathering at the edge near the fences and he knew straight away who would be right in the middle of it. Steve, that little punk. He quickly pushed his way through the crowds and saw Steve on the ground, bruised eye and lip cut, but was surprised when he saw that someone else was fighting as well. There were two boys, who Steve regularly got into a fight with because they were constantly picking on people and a small girl. He raised his eyebrows when he saw the girl punch one of the bullies squarely in the face, and watched him fall to the ground. She then proceeded to kick the boy in the stomach, making him squeal in pain.

"Okay! Okay, I'm sorry!" The boy exclaimed, clutching his stomach.

The girl just gave him a smug smile as the other boy helped his friend up and quickly took him back into the school. The crowd started to disperse after that, all except for Bucky who walked over to Steve and helped him up.

"Seriously Steve, another fight? What is your Ma gonna' say?" Bucky told him, putting his arm over his shoulder.

"Bucky, I had to! He was picking on some little boy. He was half his size!" Steve exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" The girl questioned, walking over to the both of them.

"Yeah, thanks Kelsey" Steve replied, giving the girl a small smile.

Something clicked in Bucky's brain and he realised who the girl was. She had moved from England to America only a couple of months ago, and although she was only 8, she had already got moved up into Bucky and Steve's year. Lots of the kids were scared of her because she seemed so much smarter than a lot of them, and like she had just shown was certainly stronger than the average 8 year old.

"No problem" She grinned.

"Hey, I think that guy must have scratched you, you're bleeding" Bucky told her, as he saw some blood running down her face.

"Ouch" The girl sighed.

"You should come to the medical room with us" Steve exclaimed.

"Alright" Kelsey replied.

"Thanks for looking out for Stevie, he doesn't know when to quit" Bucky informed her, making her laugh.

"Hey!" Steve argued, as Kelsey followed Bucky and Steve to the medical room, where the nurse started shaking her head.

"Again, Rogers? It's a surprise that you're still alive with the amount of beatings you take" The Nurse scolded him.

"I had them on the ropes" Steve insisted.

"Sure you did, pal" Bucky said, ruffling his hair.

* * *

After that day the three children quickly became best friends and were practically inseparable. Steve and Bucky had never been the most popular boys in the school, so they were more than happy to let her into their group and they were the first two children who hadn't run away from Kelsey when she tried to approach them. The two boys quickly figured out that Kelsey was from a care home for girls and that she had no living relatives. The care home she lived in was small and overrun by children, but Kelsey didn't seem to mind. She always told Steve and Bucky that the people who run the place were very kind and looked after the children as well as they could, but the two boys hardly went over there, not wanting to be around the children and because the house was always freezing. However, where Steve lived wasn't much better and he was constantly getting ill because of it. It's another one of those days and Bucky and Kelsey are sitting with their backs to Steve's bed.

"How're you doing, pal?" Bucky questioned.

"…Cold…" Steve stuttered, trying to wrap his blankets even further around himself.

Kelsey places her hand on Steve's forehead and frowned when she feels how cold he was.

"Alright, move over" Kelsey commanded, as she and Bucky jumped onto the bed.

Bucky lays down on Steve's left, while Kelsey takes place at Steve's right and they soon wrap their bodies around him, warming him up quickly.

"No…you guys will get sick…" Steve insisted, weakly trying to push them away.

"Don't care" The two said in reply, and laid their heads down, ready to fall asleep.

* * *

It went on like that for some time, even though Kelsey was younger than the two boys she would regularly try to protect him. Similarly, Bucky made it his job to protect the both of them and living in the time they were, that wasn't always easy.

"Not again" Kelsey groaned as she saw Steve walking towards her with a black eye.

"Uh, hey" Steve grinned sheepishly, knowing Kelsey was going to disapprove.

"Who was it this time?" She asked.

"Those Radley brothers" Steve told her.

"The Radley brothers?! They're five times your size!" Kelsey scolded him.

"Who's five times…Seriously, Steve?" Bucky sighed, when he walked over to the pair and saw Steve's face.

"They were picking on one of the boys in the year below, it wasn't fair!" Steve insisted.

"And them beating you up was fair?" Kelsey retorted.

"I don't care" Steve told her.

"Well you might not, but we do. God, Steve you're going to get yourself killed one of these days" Bucky explained.

"Look I don't need you guys protecting me! Geez, Bucky we're practically the same age, and Kelsey's younger than me!" Steve shouted, suddenly angry and stomped off.

They quickly realised that there was no point in trying to deter Steve, because he wouldn't stop. If there was anyone being bullied, no matter how old they were, or even if they didn't want his help, he would step in.

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! So I've had a lot of feels about these two lately and it produced this story. It's probably a bit slow in the beginning, but I think it get's a lot better! Please leave a review:)


	2. First Kiss

It's not always easy having two best friends, they realised as they got older. It was quite common that one of them would feel left out, but recently Steve couldn't help but feel that he was becoming a third wheel. He supposed it made sense, Kelsey was funny, smart and pretty, why would Bucky want to hang out with him when he had her and vice versa? He figured he would just make it easier on all of them and slowly fade out of the picture. He knew it would be tough on his own, because he didn't have any other friends, but it felt like the right thing to do. That was until he heard someone climbing into his room at two in the morning. He let out an undignified squeal when he saw two shadows approaching him.

"So you are still alive" Kelsey announced as she came into view, Bucky right behind her.

"What are you guys doing here?" Steve questioned.

"We haven't heard from you in days, Stevie!" Bucky exclaimed.

"We were worried something had happened to you" Kelsey explained.

"I'm fine…" Steve trailed off.

"Then why have you been ignoring us?" Bucky insisted.

"You don't need to need to keep me around, you know? I'm not your responsibility" Steve blurted out.

"What are you talking about?" Kelsey asked.

"I know you guys are getting sick of me so I figured-" Steve started, but was quickly cut off by Bucky.

"Sick of you? You're our best friend!" Bucky informed him.

"Why would you guys want me as you friend? I'm nothing special" Steve stated.

"No! Don't you ever say that. You're special to us, Steve. I don't know what I'd do without you" Kelsey told him.

"C'mon pal, don't leave me alone with her. It's been hell this past few days" Bucky joked, as Kelsey hit him in the shoulder.

"You guys really want me around?" Steve inquired.

"Of course we do" Bucky insisted.

"Group hug!" Kelsey grinned, as she slung her arms over the boy's shoulders.

* * *

It was a few weeks after that incident when Kelsey was pulled from the school corridor into a storage closet by Bucky.

"Bucky?! What the hell are you doing?" Kelsey questioned.

"I need your help" He told her.

"Oh God, what have you done now?" Kelsey sighed.

"It's what I haven't done that's the problem. I almost kissed a girl" Bucky explained.

"…The problem is?" Kelsey asked, confused.

"I chickened out 'cause I don't know how" Bucky admitted, a pitiful look on his face.

His face quickly turned to annoyance when Kelsey started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Bucky inquired.

"I'm sorry…your face…priceless" Kelsey said, wiping a tear from her face.

"Look, I need a favour" Bucky informed her.

"Sure. What?" She replied.

"You've got to let me kiss you" He pleaded.

"…What?" Kelsey questioned, not sure if she'd heard right.

"I need to know if I'm really bad at it" Bucky explained.

"I don't know…it'd be a bit weird" Kelsey stated.

"It'd just be for practise. Don't you want to know if you're a bad kisser?" Bucky suggested.

"You got me there" Kelsey admitted.

"Okay" Bucky replied, as he took a step towards her.

He stood there for a whole minute just staring at her lips, as soon Kelsey was getting annoyed.

"Do I need to show you a diagram or-" She was quickly cut off by Bucky's lips on hers.

Kelsey manoeuvred her head slightly so that they were at a better angle and then started to kiss him back. There was no real technique or fierceness behind it, but still it sent butterflies flying in her stomach. Pulling away, she saw Bucky still had his eyes closed.

"Thanks" He breathed out.

"No problem" She replied, as he quickly exited the closet.

Bucky let out a sigh he hadn't realised he had been holding when he closed the door. There was no girl that he had almost kissed, he had only spurred the lie to have an excuse to kiss her. He had started to get these weird feelings around her recently and wanted to figure out what they meant. When he had kissed her, it somehow felt right. Safe. He didn't realise that boys got butterflies in their stomachs too. Now it was onto phase two, to see if kissing anyone else made him feel the same way.

* * *

"Where's Bucky?" Kelsey asked, when she saw Steve by his the locker, a few months later.

"Out with his new girlfriend" Steve informed her.

"Is there anyone in this school he hasn't dated?" Kelsey inquired.

"You" Steve stated, a smug grin on his face.

"Not this again" Kelsey sighed, rolling her eyes.

For some reason the last few months, Steve had been insisting that Bucky had a thing for her that she knew clearly wasn't true. Why would he be going out with all those girls if he really liked her?

"You're in denial" Steve insisted.

"And you're being stupid" Kelsey retorted.

"Hey Kelsey!" A voice exclaimed from behind her.

"Hi Mark" She said, as she saw it was the boy who sat next to her in Maths.

"Um…so I was wondering if you want to go out sometime?" He questioned, obviously nervous.

"You mean like a date?" Kelsey inquired, as he nodded.

"Yeah, sure" She replied, a moment later.

"Great! I'll pick you up after school" He smiled at her, as he walked away.

"Did Mark Rows just ask you out?" Steve asked, shocked.

"Don't sound so surprised, Stevie. I'm quite the catch" Kelsey smirked.

"Bucky's not going to be happy about this" Steve insisted.

"We'll see" Kelsey stated, as she walked away.

* * *

"She's going out with who?!" Bucky shouted, after Steve had told him what had happened earlier that day.

"Mark Rows. He seems pretty nice" Steve informed him.

"He's two years older than her!" Bucky exclaimed.

"Kelsey can handle herself, Buck. We both know that" Steve told him.

"But still…" Bucky trailed off.

"So how's it going with you and Becky?" Steve asked.

"Who?" Bucky queried.

"Your girlfriend" Steve said, shaking his head.

"Oh…yeah, she's fine" Bucky replied.

"Buck, why don't you just admit you like Kelsey" Steve suggested.

"I do not!" Bucky insisted.

"You can be such jerk" Steve stated.

"Right back at ya, punk" Bucky retorted.

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! As some of you will know, the views on this site have been down the last week, which means I can't tell if anybody's actually been reading any of my stories. This is especially bad time because I have no views on this story seeing as I just started it. So please could you guys send in some reviews, just so I know that people are enjoying this story and want me to continue! Thank you:)


	3. Moving In Together

It was one of the rare occasions where a boy was flirting with Kelsey and usually she'd be alright with it, but now that she had been going out with Mark Rows, she really didn't want to hear it. As if on cue, Bucky walks over to them and the guy quickly started to back off.

"Woah, sorry pal. I didn't realise she had a boyfriend" He told him, as he started to walk away.

"He's not my boyfriend" Kelsey said, rolling her eyes, but the guy was too far away to hear.

"Like you could handle me" Bucky suggested.

"I think you'd be surprised" Kelsey smirked.

"What does that mean?" Bucky now suddenly very interested, but Kelsey just shrugged in response.

"Wait…have you and that Rows guy got up to something not so saintly that I don't know about?" Bucky inquired, but Kelsey again shrugged, winding him up.

However, Bucky doesn't seem to want to drop the subject and soon the teasing has lost it's appeal.

"Why do you care?" Kelsey asked, after another load of questioning.

"I don't" Bucky said quickly.

"Great, then drop it" Kelsey insisted, and thankfully he did.

Truth be told, Kelsey and Mark hadn't got any further than making out and even that was kept at a minimum.

It was a week later and Kelsey was surprised when she found Steve at her door, because she knew he didn't like the care home.

"I need to talk to you" He stated.

"Sure, what's wrong?" She questioned.

"Bucky's been going on and on at me all week about…well you and Mark Rows" Steve explained.

"What about us?" Kelsey inquired.

"Well if you've…you know" Steve replied, a blush on his face.

"He still hasn't dropped that? Jesus" Kelsey sighed.

"Yes, that is because he's jealous" Steve said, emphasising the last word.

"No, he's not. I'm sure he's very happy with Rachel" Kelsey exclaimed.

"Actually Rachel was last week. He's moved onto Casey now" Steve informed her.

"Stevie, please just drop it, okay?" Kelsey pleaded.

"Okay" Steve grumbled.

* * *

In the end things didn't end well with Mark. He had caught her looking at Bucky one too many times and they had a massive argument about it. She honestly did like Mark a lot, and was very upset about how their relationship of 9 months had ended. Steve and Bucky were both worried about her when she skipped class the day after and went over to the care home to find her drinking. This was quite a rare thing to find, because Kelsey had never been particularly fussed about alcohol before.

"Kel, what are you doing?" Bucky asked, as he grabbed the drink out of her hand.

"Drowning my sorrows" She replied pitifully.

"There will be other guys" Steve insisted, as he sat next to her.

"No they won't" She sighed.

"Any guy would be lucky to have you" Bucky told her.

"And anyway, you've still got us" Steve exclaimed.

"Yeah…you guys are…great. You know that? Love you guys" Kelsey murmured, grabbing their shoulders to pull them into a hug, but accidently knocked their heads together.

"Oops" She grimaced.

Bucky was still kind of shell-shocked by the word love coming out of Kelsey's mouth when he was concerned. He knew it was ridiculous because she had had said it to him and Steve, and only in a friendly way…but still, it made him feel things he really didn't want to feel.

"I think it's time for you to go to bed" Steve suggested, as he and Bucky got her to lay down, and soon she was asleep.

"I think I'll break up with Jess. Have a break from girls all together" Bucky announced.

"What's brought this on?" Steve asked, a small smile on his face.

"Nothing in particular" Bucky shrugged.

* * *

It was almost the end of school when Kelsey got kicked out of the care home. They declared that she was too old to stay there, and they didn't have enough money to look after her. She walked with her bags to Bucky's house, not sure where else to go. Bucky's mother was more than happy to take her in and made her up a bed on the couch, telling her she could stay as long as she liked. It was strange sleeping in a new room after living most of her life in the same bed, and not to mention not very comfortable. Now that she was left with her own thoughts, she realised the fact that she was pretty much homeless. Growing upset, she tiptoed her way to Bucky's room and walked in, nudging his shoulder lightly. He quickly woke up and saw her sad face, and rolled over so she could lay down on the bed. He wasn't really sure what to say to make it better, so instead he simply pulled her close to him, spooning her. She felt a lot better having Bucky with her, and for the first time that day allowed herself to smile.

It happened a lot after that day. Even when they moved out and got a small flat with Steve. When one of them had a bad day they would find their way into the other's bed. They insisted it was purely a comfort thing whenever Steve brought it up, but from his smug smile they could tell he didn't believe them. They would even change who was the big spoon and who was the small spoon. Which is how Bucky ended up with a very big problem only a few days after he turned 19. He woke up slowly, feeling Kelsey start to stir in his arms.

"Shit" He mumbled, when he realised he had a boner.

He quickly jumped off the bed, turning away from Kelsey who was now fully awake.

"W-what are you doing?" Kelsey asked, in a sleepy voice, which did nothing to help his problem.

"Um, nothing…" Bucky trailed off, as he stood up and walked out of the door, his back to her the entire time.

With a large blush on his face, he quickly turned their shower on and drenched himself in the cold water.

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I wrote this story pretty much in one night and I was half asleep, so sorry if there are any mistakes. Please leave a review:)


	4. Relationships

Kelsey thought it was great living with her two best friends…but the thing was she did get a bit lonely sometimes. She needed some girls to speak to, but no one was interested in talking to her. It's not that she wasn't nice enough or anything, more the fact that her clothes were dirty and her face too plain. They were all very poor so they weren't going to spend money on anything like clothes or make up when it was hard enough paying the rent or getting enough food. Her 20th birthday was coming soon but she knew they couldn't afford presents, but it still didn't make the problem much better. That's why she was so moody at her birthday lunch with Bucky and Steve, who seemed to have grins plastered on their faces the whole day.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Kelsey questioned suspiciously, as Bucky nodded to Steve who ran out of the room and came back with two parcels a moment later.

There was a small one and a big one. With a frown she opened the large parcel to find a beautiful, brand new red dress and almost gasped in shock.

"How?" She asked, in awe.

"Open you next present" Steve exclaimed happily.

She did so to find a tube of lipstick, red again, and this time did gasp.

"Am I dreaming?" She inquired, which made both of the boys laugh.

"We've been saving up for the last year to get you something good. I worked overtime and Steve went out and sold some of his drawings. Turns out people actually liked it" Bucky teased Steve, who shoved him playfully.

"You guys are the best! The best!" Kelsey squealed, pulling them both into a tight hug.

After that it surprised them both how many friends Kelsey made. A new friend seemed to pop up almost every week and neither of them could deny they were a bit jealous. She seemed to realise that, so she started setting them up with her different friends, but none of them lasted very long. They would realise that Bucky wasn't really into them and most of them just weren't attracted to Steve, which baffled Kelsey.

"I just don't get it…they all say that you're interested in someone else. Have you got someone on the side you aren't telling me about?" Kelsey asked Bucky one day.

"Nope" Bucky sighed.

"And none of them like me to start with" Steve added, pitifully.

"Well obviously they don't know a good thing when they see it, because you Stevie are one of the most handsomest men I've ever known" Kelsey told him, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"The only men you've ever known are me and Bucky" Steve retorted.

"Beside the point" Kelsey insisted.

"There's no point Kel. No dame is ever going to like me. I'm 21 and I've never even kissed a girl. I mean who's going to want to go out with a guy who's never even kissed someone?" Steve stated, with a huff.

"Okay" Kelsey announced, as she pulled Steve towards her and pressed her lips against his.

Steve's eyes widened as he realised what was happening. The kiss only lasted a few seconds but Steve was flushed and breathing heavy by the time she pulled away.

"Um…" Steve trailed off, not sure what to say.

"Now you can tell all the girls that you have kissed someone…and that she was pretty amazing" Kelsey grinned.

Steve looked over at Bucky's whose face was pinched with an emotion he couldn't quite put his finger on. He gave him a 'sorry' look, but Bucky still seemed annoyed. He knew that Bucky still had feelings for Kelsey, who he was sure returned the feelings.

"You want a kiss too?" Kelsey questioned, when she also saw Bucky's face.

"No, no. Definitely not" Bucky stuttered, blushing lightly.

"C'mon Barnes. I don't bite" Kelsey grinned, as she started chasing Bucky around the room.

It didn't take long for Kelsey to catch him and plant a big kiss on his cheek, laughing as she did so.

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry that this chapter is so short:( Not sure if people are liking this story or not tbh, so could you please leave a review if you do?:)


	5. Swimming

My friend suggested that I should tell you guys what other stories I've written to see if you are in those fandoms. On my profile you can find stories for: Doctor Who, Pretty Little Liars, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teen Wolf and Agents of Shield. So get check them out if you want:)

* * *

"C'mon Bucky. You don't want to be the only one out of us that can't swim!" Kelsey exclaimed, as they walked towards a lake nearby their house.

"I know…" Bucky trailed off.

Kelsey had found out that Steve couldn't swim a few months ago and had quickly made it her mission to change that. It took a long time because she didn't like him being in the water for too long because of his asthma and the way he would shiver, but he had done it with his 'natural Steve determination'. Bucky had let it slip the other day that he had never learned to swim either and here they were. Kelsey soon walked into the lake with ease until the water was up to her waist and called for Bucky to join her.

"Just come in slowly, don't be scared" Kelsey told him.

"I'm not" Bucky retorted, but by the time the water was skimming his thighs he stopped.

"Here, take my hands" Kelsey said, as she reached out for him.

He gratefully took her hands in his with a solid grip as she brought him further into the water until it was up to their necks.

"Okay, the first thing you need to do to swim is to not be scared of the water. To do this you're going to need to go under" Kelsey explained.

"You mean…" Bucky trailed off, not sure if he liked the sound of it.

"I'll do it with you. And remember, your legs still reach the bottom so you can just push yourself up easy" Kelsey said, as dipped lower until the water came up under her mouth.

"Now, take a deep breath and just go a little bit under the surface" Kelsey instructed him.

A moment later they both plunged their heads under, but Bucky got scared and quickly pushed up, spluttering.

"Hey, hey. It's okay" Kelsey insisted, when she saw Bucky panicking.

"Sorry…I just couldn't see. It freaked me out" He explained.

"Okay, how about this" Kelsey said, as she pulled him into a hug.

"We're just going to go a little under the surface again, alright? I've got you" She soothed and slowly dipped them under the water.

This time Bucky managed to stay under until Kelsey brought them up, breathing heavily as they did so.

"Was that so bad?" Kelsey asked, pulling away.

"No" Bucky admitted.

They tried this a few times more until Bucky was able to go under the water himself without having to hold onto her.

"You're a natural" She told him, making him smile.

"Okay, now I want you to hold onto my hands and let me pull you along and when you feel ready I want you to pull your feet up" Kelsey stated, as she did so.

After a few moments Bucky tried this, but found he was too out of the water. So taking a deep breath, he submerged himself so his mouth was just over the water and put one leg up. A second later he pulled his other leg up. He didn't get very far before his feet caught the bottom and he tripped himself up, going under. When he pushed himself back up, he had a large blush on his face.

"You need to be more horizontal" Kelsey told him, as she went to stand beside him.

A moment later, her hand was touching his collar bone, while her other hand was touching his thighs.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Giving you a push. You trust me right?" She inquired.

"Of course I do" He replied.

"I'm going to push you up now" Kelsey informed him, as she pushed up on his thighs and started to put him in a horizontal position.

"Woah" Bucky stuttered, feeling a bit scared.

"It's alright, I've got you" She insisted.

Soon Bucky was in a perfect position, so Kelsey started pushing him along.

"Okay, now put your arms out" She stated, as he did so.

"I'm going to slowly let go, but don't worry because my hands are going to be right under you" She exclaimed.

The moment she took her hands away he started to flail and sink, but she made sure to pull him back up.

"Okay, let's try it on your back" She suggested, doing the same thing.

This time when she let go, Bucky was able to keep himself more or less upright.

"Holy crap! I'm floating!" Bucky realised, amazed.

"Hmm…try pushing your arms back in a rotating move" She told him as he did so.

His legs did sink a bit, but he was able to push himself for about a metre before he sunk.

"Did I just swim?!" He questioned, surprised.

"Yep, now we've just got to get those legs working" She announced.

By the time the sun was starting to fade Bucky was about to swim on his front a few metres which impressed Kelsey greatly.

"You did so well today" Kelsey grinned, and pulled him into a hug.

"I learnt from the best" He replied, as he hugged her back, letting his eyes close in content.

She pulled away far too quickly for his liking and stated that they needed to get home or Steve would start to worry, which was probably true.

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry that it's so short again:( Also I don't know where this chapter came from, I was just in the mood for some fluffy swimming, aha. Please leave a review:)


	6. Update

Sorry everyone but I think I'm going to have to go on hiatus with this story for a bit because I'm not sure if I like how I've written the future chapters. I'm hoping I'll be able to sort this out soon and maybe re-write some stuff. Thanks for all the support!


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